Applying scanned information to identify content

Abstract

Information corresponding to a sentence or less of text is scanned from a rendered document and converted to text. The text is communicated to a search engine. Electronic content corresponding to the rendered document from which the text was scanned is identified from the search engine results.

1. A method performed by a mobile device of locating additional information associated with a rendered document, the method comprising:
 optically capturing information from a rendered document; 
 identifying context information associated with the optical capture of the information from the rendered document, wherein the context information includes information associated with an identification of the rendered document from which the information was optically captured; 
 formulating a search query that is based on the captured information and on the identified context information; and 
 transmitting the search query to a search engine at a location remote from the mobile device. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to a publication containing the document. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to movement of a text capture during the scanning. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the information related to the movement comprises direction information. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 3 , wherein information related to the movement comprises gesture information. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to a time at which the scan was performed. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information associated with a location in the rendered document from which the information was captured. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to a geographic location at which the scan was performed. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 audio information received during the scan. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to signals performed by a data capture device that performed the scan. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 context information derived at least in part from the scanned information. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to a scan history of a user that has scanned the information. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to a user that has scanned the information. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to a group of users associated with a user that has scanned the information. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to metadata associated with the rendered document. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the identified context information comprises:
 information related to modifications made to the rendered document by a user. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the scanned information comprises:
 a parametric representation of symbols in the rendered document. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the scanned information comprises statistical information about content of the rendered document, the statistical information comprising:
 probabilities that symbols would occur in the rendered document if the rendered document belonged to a predetermined classification. 
 
     
     
       19. A computer-readable storage device storing executable contents which when executed by one or more processors cause a mobile device to perform a method for locating electronic content, the method comprising:
 optically capturing information from a rendered document; 
 identifying context information associated with the optical capture of the information from the rendered document, wherein the identified context information includes information identifying the rendered document from which the information was optically captured; 
 formulating a search query that is based on the captured information and on the identified context information; and 
 transmitting the search query to a remote search engine that searches for content within an online repository of content. 
 
     
     
       20. The computer-readable storage device of  claim 19 , wherein the identified context information includes information identifying a location within the rendered document at which the optical capture occurred. 
     
     
       21. A system in a mobile device for locating content associated with a rendered document, the system comprising:
 a memory; 
 a processor coupled to the memory, the processor operable to execute instructions to perform functions comprising:
 a capture component, wherein the capture component is programmed to capture images of text from a rendered document; 
 a document identification component, wherein the document identification component is programmed to identify the rendered document based at least in part on the text within the captured images; 
 a search query component, wherein the search query component is programmed to formulate a search query that includes information associated with the text within the captured images and information associated with the identified identification of the rendered document; and 
 a query transmission component, wherein the query transmission component is programmed to transmit the search query to a search engine at a server remote from the mobile device. 
 
 
     
     
       22. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the information associated with the identified rendered document includes a location within the rendered document at which the image capture occurred.